Method and system for retrieval of consumer product information

Abstract

A system comprising a product tag, a consumer receiver and software for the receiver enables a consumer to electronically retrieve information about commercial product. Each product would have a tag that could contain any amount of description information about the product. The tag has the capability of transmitting this information to a consumer. A customizable and programmable receiver can read the product tag and interpret the information according to the consumer's preferences programmed on the receiver. The software would allow the receiver to interpret the product tag information into an understandable format and present it to the consumer. This system enables a consumer to more efficiently and effectively obtain information about a commercial product.

1 . A system for electronic retrieval of consumer product information comprising: 
 a product tag attached to a commercial product, said tag containing information about the commercial product and said tag capable of transmitting information contained on the product tag:    a portable receiver device capable of receiving formation transmitted from said product tag;    a software program contained in said portable receiver device for displaying information retrieved from said product tag according to the desires of a consumer; and    a memory module contained in said portable receiver for storing information retrieved from said product tag.    
   
   
       2 . The system as described in  claim 1  wherein said portable receiver device further comprises a scanner function to retrieve information from said product tag.  
   
   
       3 . The system as described in  claim 1  wherein said memory module temporarily stores product tag information.  
   
   
       4 . The system as described in  claim 3  further comprising a product information database storage location to store information about various products on a long-term basis.  
   
   
       5 . The system as described in  claim 1  wherein said software program further comprises a product information criteria format for identifying product information a consumer desires about a product, the information criteria format comprising a plurality of records with each record having a product criteria field and a product criteria code.  
   
   
       6 . The system as described in  claim 5  wherein said product tag has information stored on said product tag in a product information format for identifying information about a product, the product information criteria format comprising a plurality of records with each record having a product criteria code and a field having product information.  
   
   
       7 . The system as described in  claim 1  wherein said product tag is a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag and the portable receiver device is a radio frequency identification (RFID) receiver.  
   
   
       8 . The system as described in  claim 1  wherein said portable receiver device has audio and visual output capabilities.  
   
   
       9 . A method for electronic retrieval of consumer product information comprising the steps of: 
 retrieving product description criteria from a consumer interested in information about a commercial product;    retrieving information about a product contained on a product tag attached to the commercial product;    processing the retrieved product information based on the retrieved product description criteria; and    outputting to the consumer, customized information about the commercial product in accordance with the retrieved product description criteria.    
   
   
       10 . The method as described in  claim 9  wherein in said product description criteria retrieval step, product description criteria is retrieved by prompting a consumer to submit product description criteria through a portable r receiver device.  
   
   
       11 . The method as described in  claim 9  wherein in said product description criteria retrieval step, product description criteria is retrieved from a set of default product description criteria.  
   
   
       12 . The method as described in  claim 9  wherein said step of retrieving information contained on product tag is performing by scanning the information from the product tag and into a portable receiver device.  
   
   
       13 . The method as described in  claim 9  wherein said step of retrieving information contained on product tag is performing by transmitting product information from the product tag and receiving the transmitted product information at the portable receiver device.  
   
   
       14 . The method as described in  claim 9  wherein in said step of retrieving information contained on a product tag, information is retrieved by a portable receiver device one criterion at a time.  
   
   
       15 . The method as described in  claim 14  wherein said processing step information from a product tag is processed one criterion at a time.  
   
   
       16 . The method as described in  claim 9  wherein in said step of retrieving information contained on a product tag, all product tag information is retrieved by a portable receiver device one at a time.  
   
   
       17 . The method as described in  claim 9  wherein in said step of retrieving information contained on a product tag, all product tag information is processed by software in a portable receiver device one at a time.  
   
   
       18 . The method as described in  claim 9  further comprising after said outputting step, the step of storing retrieved and processed information about a product in a product description database.  
   
   
       19 . A computer program product in a computer readable storage medium for electronic retrieval of consumer product information comprising: 
 instructions for retrieving product description criteria from a consumer interested in information about a commercial product;    instructions for retrieving information about a product contained on a product tag attached to the commercial product;    instructions for processing the retrieved product information based on the retrieved product description criteria; and    instructions for outputting to the consumer, customized information about the commercial product in accordance with the retrieved product description criteria.